Page 77 of Blood Sacrifice

“Exactly.” Paulo glanced at him before returning his attention to me. “I recorded everything they had us do in secret without anyone realising, without even me knowing what I was doing. It was a habit from childhood.”

I pursed my lips together for several moments. “What do they say?”

Paulo shook his head. “I haven’t read them all. I checked they were still hidden, and quickly skimmed back to try and work out who had whammied me and when.” He paused. “But there are details of missions I have no memory of.”

“Take this map,” I instructed. “We’ll get Tarrack to have a forensic look at it. Where’s Owen?” I had forgotten about the other vampire.

Dominic’s lips lifted in that creepy grin that made my ass cheeks clamp together. “We arrived here about half an hour before you, and had a little wander about. There was a secret tunnel that led away from the complex. Owen decided to ensure none of the nasty little rodents escaped to warn others.”

A shiver rippled down my spine. I’d had very little experience of vampires over the years, but the past few weeks had shown me that they were killing machines with no mercy. Whoever had fled through the tunnels only found a road to misery and death.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Luna

Never, in my wildest imagination, did I think there would be an actual stairway to Heaven. I expected to walk through the elaborate iron gate and into the clouds. It felt as if I’d been climbing for hours, and even though I technically had no body, my legs ached and I was breathless. I stopped for a moment, leaning forward to hold my knees.

“Most people would have given up by now,” a male voice said from further up the stairs.

I glanced up to find a man with black hair and green eyes watching me. “I’m stubborn,” I replied.

“I noticed,” he said dryly. “Is your petition worth this constant punishment?”

I straightened to stare at him. “I assume there is no end to this staircase?” I refrained from calling him a dick even though my temper was slowly rising since I felt like a hamster on a wheel.

He shrugged one shoulder. “My brother would have called me a dick to my face. He doesn’t like the creatures who live in this realm.”

My lips twitched. “He sounds like a man with a lot of common sense,” I replied.

“Fabian refuses to conform to anyone’s rules. He believes that the only sacred law is to preserve the balance.”

“Are you just here to torment and ridicule me?” I asked, folding my arms across my chest.

“This staircase is on my watch list. I was growing bored watching your constant climbing, so I decided to save you any further trouble and tell you to turn back. The gate will appear on the next step down.”

“No,” I replied.

His head tilted slightly to the side, his green eyes assessing. “You will never reach the golden gates.”

“Then I’ll keep climbing until I can’t go any further,” I retaliated. “I came here with a purpose, and I never turn my back on those who need me.”

He narrowed his eyes. “Turn back.”

“No.” I went to push past him, and he grabbed my arm.

“Trust me, you will not get what you seek,” he said in a low tone. “No one has been allowed an audience in so many years that it has faded from memory.”

I shook his hand away. “My mate was stolen from me for four centuries, and just when I found him again, my asshole sister decided to hit me with a death curse. I’m having a really bad death since I can’t lie down and feel sorry for myself, and instead find myself on a mission to here because it was in a prophecy that some witch decided to write about me centuries ago. Now, unless you want to sprout wings and fly me to the end of this infernal staircase, I advise you to move out of my way.” I fixed him with my steeliest glare.

His lips lifted in a half smile that he tried to cover with his hand. “Who am I to stand in the way of a woman having a bad afterlife?” He stepped to the side and let me walk past him.

What felt like about two weeks later, I found him sitting on the stairs, his elbows resting on his legs and his hands grasped together.

I sighed, and stopped. “Is this a loop?”

“I did tell you that you would never reach the top. It doesn’t exist.” He stared at his hands.

Exhausted, I sat on the stair beside him. “I can’t go back,” I said.

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